Refinery workers picket Port Stanvac

Refinery workers picket Port Stanvac

By Tully Bates

ADELAIDE — Forty-five maintenance workers from the Port Stanvac oil refinery picketed the plant after wage negotiations broke down. The action, which started on October 29, has halted production at the refinery, which produces 90% of South Australia's petrol. This has left the state dependent on its existing stocks of fuel; petrol stocks are due to run out the day before the Grand Prix.

The negotiations began over six months ago with the workers originally asking for a 10% wage rise. The striking workers, members of the Automotive, Food, Metals and Engineering Union (AFMEU) and the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union (CEPU) are now fighting for a 5% pay rise, linked to workplace flexibility improvements. They have rejected Mobil's offer of 3%.

On November 2, the dispute returned to the Industrial Relations Commission, where Mobil was given the right to sue the workers for losses suffered by the company as a result of the strike. Mobil has also applied for a bans clause to be inserted into the striking workers' award prohibiting further industrial action and forcing the removal of the picket.

The Liberal state government has intervened on behalf of the company, claiming that the strike is adversely affecting the economy of the state.

A picketing member of the AFMEU told Green Left Weekly that Mobil expected the dispute to be sorted out within a few days. The workers, he said, expect and are prepared to be out for at least two or three weeks.

From GLW issue 166